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Independence Day
Jul. 4th, 2003 04:21 pmSometimes there's something that sort of bothers me, but it seems like it's best not to complain about it. For example, it kind of irks me when people refer to Independence Day as the Fourth of July. After all, the holiday itself is Independence Day. Saying "Happy Fourth!" or something seems akin to wishing someone "Happy Twenty-Fifth!" on Christmas.
I find myself slipping and doing this myself, though, so I can't really criticize other people for doing it. But more than that, maybe it's good that we continue to identify it as the Fourth. Many other holidays have lost their true days in favor of being celebrated on a Monday so as to create a long weekend. I don't want that fate to befall Independence Day.
Of course, I have from time to time wondered why we choose to celebrate Independence Day, specifically. A quick check with history tells me that England officially declared an end to hostilities in America on February 4, 1783. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, marking England's recognition of the USA as an independent nation, as I understand it. If Independence Day truly celebrates the birth of our nation, then I suppose this means that we consider the United States of America to have become an independant nation as soon as the Declaration of Independence was signed. All of that pesky Revolutionary War business was just convincing the British that the colonists were serious, eh? I could have sworn I remembered hearing things in elementary school history classes about how we "won our independence." In retrospect, it would appear that we had been independent since July 4, 1776, and that the Revolutionary War instead preserved our independence. Weird.
I find myself slipping and doing this myself, though, so I can't really criticize other people for doing it. But more than that, maybe it's good that we continue to identify it as the Fourth. Many other holidays have lost their true days in favor of being celebrated on a Monday so as to create a long weekend. I don't want that fate to befall Independence Day.
Of course, I have from time to time wondered why we choose to celebrate Independence Day, specifically. A quick check with history tells me that England officially declared an end to hostilities in America on February 4, 1783. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, marking England's recognition of the USA as an independent nation, as I understand it. If Independence Day truly celebrates the birth of our nation, then I suppose this means that we consider the United States of America to have become an independant nation as soon as the Declaration of Independence was signed. All of that pesky Revolutionary War business was just convincing the British that the colonists were serious, eh? I could have sworn I remembered hearing things in elementary school history classes about how we "won our independence." In retrospect, it would appear that we had been independent since July 4, 1776, and that the Revolutionary War instead preserved our independence. Weird.
